This is a photo of my family on holiday in Gorna Banya. It was taken in 1936. My parents are in the background, sitting at the table with raised glasses, my brother Israel is next to them, I am in the center of the photo and my sister Rebecca is on the far right.
When I was a child we went on holidays very often. We had to do it because my father suffered from sciatica, and every summer we used to go to the hot mineral spas in Gorna Banya [a village close to Sofia, which is now a district of Sofia]. We used to load a horse cart with our luggage, rent a room in the village and spend a month there. We went to Gorna Banya for three years, then to Ovcha Kupel for three years. At that time my mother took good care of all her four children and used to make 'chateau' for us every morning. It is made of well-beaten egg white, and then the yoke and sugar are added, all this is stirred well and is eaten with bread. I will not forget an incident, when our whole family of six persons had gathered in an alcove in Ovcha Kupel to have our meal and a woman who was a tenant in the same house, asked mother whether all the children were hers. My mother answered with a saying in Ladino: 'Your eye - in a basket!' This meant to protect oneself from bad thoughts of other persons.
Raina Blumenfeld's family on holiday
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